I let my fingers intertwine with his and nod because I still don’t think I’m able to speak.
He doesn’t let go of my hand as he lets me lead him away from the pier and along the familiar stretch of coastline.
The beach is deserted apart from a few stragglers at the edge of the pier and I feel the familiar calm settling over me as I look out at the last rays of sunlight disappearing behind the violet and pink horizon.
Being here with him, sharing this place with him that is so sacred to me, is frighteningly intimate. I’m terrified to realize that not only do I trust him enough to share this with him, but I also want him here with me, beside me. That after years of walking this shore alone, and being content with that, I want someone walking it with me and never in a million years could I have imagined that the someone would be Raphael St. Tristan. The guy who, up until a few weeks ago, was the only real enemy I’ve ever had.
“At the risk of sounding lame, I don’t think I’ve had so much fun in a long time,” Raph says from beside me.
“Ditto,” I reply. “I love amusement parks, this one in particular, for reasons that you know.”
“I’ve never been to one before.” I’m not sure why Raph’s words surprise me.
“Don’t they have amusement parks in Eden?” I ask.
“Sure, they do.” He shrugs then.
“But I didn’t really have time for that kind of thing growing up—or at least my father didn’t think so.”
I feel a pang of sadness at that and I remember what he told me last night about his life not being his own and what it meant to be the heir to the throne. I realize that he hadn’t had much of a childhood at all—another part of him which is a mirror of a part of me, my own childhood ripped away when I was seven. But at least I had those seven years with my mom, whereas it seems like Raph didn’t have a childhood at all.
“So, thank you for sharing this place with me,” he says finally; he looks humbled in a way that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.
He lets loose a long breath as he looks out at the sun dipping lower behind the horizon.
“I’ve watched Earth from afar so many times, but this is the first time I’ve been down here. I used to think that nothing could be more beautiful than Eden but there are colors here on Earth that I’ve never seen, colors that don’t exist on Eden.”
His words surprise me because I had thought the same about Eden. But as I follow his gaze out over the horizon, I see those hues of deep pink and purple that perhaps I hadn’t seen on Eden.
“Do you want to try shifting the day into night? It’s close enough to sundown that it won’t disturb the natural cycle,” he says and something occurs to me then.
“How does it all work? Magnus only mentioned that the day is by the hand of the St. Tristan Dynasty, the night is by the hand of the Evenstar Dynasty and the other Dynasties watch over everything in between.” I’d never really thought about it before, mostly because I was trying not to get too caught up in the alternative realm that was Eden, but there was no denying that it had happened regardless.
“Well, everything on both planets runs its own cycle—night, day, sunrise, sunset, winter, spring, summer, fall—you get the point.
“It’s not like one of us is constantly on watch, manually shifting the seasons or making the sun rise every morning. But it’s by our power, the power of the Seraph, of the Dynasties, that it does happen.
“When things become imbalanced or something throws the cycle off, then as keepers of the elements, that’s when we’re made to intervene to restore the balance.”
I nod, although part of me still doesn’t understand fully. This is all still so new to me—only a few months ago, I had no idea that any of this even existed.
“So, do you want to give it a try?” Raph asks then.
I hesitate for a moment, but I don’t see the harm.
I wait to hear his instructions but instead I feel him stepping closer to me from behind, until I feel the solidity of his chest flush against my back. His warmth and closeness play havoc with my senses, and it’s a wonder I’m able to stay standing.
He reaches out and takes my hand in his, stretching our arms out towards the horizon.
“Find the connection.” The feel of his breath against my ear sends a thrill racing down my spine, but I force myself to focus.
I find that connection, the one I’ve felt inside me for as long as I can remember and I feel it take over my senses.
I feel the pull of the moon just beyond sight, the stars just beyond reach and I draw them both closer. Just like that day in elements class, it feels like some primal part of me knows what to do. The connection is dizzying, the power in my veins throbs. The intensity of the power is frightening, and exhilarating at the same time.
Raph’s fingers entwine with mine and suddenly I can feel his own connection to the daylight. The sheer power that he has over it takes my breath away and I’m reminded of exactly who and what he is. I’m reminded of the sheer force of him. A god in every sense of the word.
He sweeps the sunlight away, just as I coax the darkness forward, our powers perfectly in sync. The connection that I feel between us in that moment shakes me to the core. I’ve never felt so close to someone in my entire life, so connected, and I’m certain there’s no other feeling like this in the entire universe. The feeling is so alien, so new, yet at the same time, it feels as ancient as time itself, as primal as my deepest desires.
In that moment, with our powers fused together, it’s as if we’re one person. Like two halves of a whole snapping into place with such finality, that it’s almost frightening. It feels like I’ve been wandering through the universe for an age, lost, searching for something and in this moment, I’ve finally found that lost fragment of myself. It’s him.
In that moment, he isn’t the heir of the St. Tristan Dynasty and I’m not the heir of the Evenstar Dynasty, we’re nothing but the power of day and night breathing side by side. Breathing as one. There is no him, there is no me. There’s only us.
I watch through wide eyes as the last of the sunlight disappears behind the horizon, as the moon appears and as a blanket of stars descend on the now midnight blue sky.
Once night settles fully over the scene, we both let go of the connection. I don’t realize how much effort I’d been exerting until I hear my own ragged breathing as I try to catch my breath. But I know that breathlessness is from that universe shattering connection that I’d just felt with Raph, too.
I’m suddenly aware of my own body again. I can feel Raph’s eyes on me. When I turn to him, he’s looking at me with something like wonder and something else I’ve glimpsed before, but never allowed myself to acknowledge.
I don’t have time to, either, because my thoughts are jolted when I feel the pattering of rain against my skin. Raph is equally surprised and we both look up to see the heavens opening as sheets of rain blanket us both.